It still almost seems like a dream, but it’s true: after thirty years of failed attempts, the legendary comic book ‘Sand man’ appears on the screen. It has not been in the form of a movie as envisioned since the nineties, when Warner Bros. planned the first adaptation it would direct. Roger Avery After helping write ‘international fiction’. In mid-2019, three years after a movie he directed Joseph Gordon-LevittNetflix has signed a deal with Warner to adapt the ‘bestseller’ as a real-life video series. Strangely enough, it opens on Friday, August 5th.
short history of comics
The fact that this work by Neil Gaiman took so long to adapt will only surprise those who haven’t reviewed it. Opening in 1989 and ending in 1996, ‘Sandman’ began as a unique terror adventure with the DC universe as its relative operating framework. Sooner or later, this has ceased to be A dark fantasy where myth, history and literature intersect, where the intangible materializes and the tangible dissolve before our eyes almost gives way to its own kind.. This is the logic of the dream.
After all, the protagonist of all this, Sandman or Morpheus or Oneiros, is an anthropomorphic version of the Dream; New gothic reformulation of a character who went through different incarnations in the forties, seventies (when he was a superhero) jack kirby) and eighty. His six brothers (the rest of the Eternals) are the physical embodiment of other metaphysical beings: Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium Y Destiny.
We know Morpheus as the false prey of the occult order ruled by Lord Magus. They wanted to catch death and achieve immortality, but they accidentally captured his younger brother. This leads to sleep disturbances worldwide: some sleep almost non-stop; the others don’t sleep, but they don’t talk either, as if they’ve turned into zombies. After he manages to get out of prison, he seeks revenge and tries to rebuild his broken kingdom.
Morpheus’ adventures in time and myth (perhaps due to unfounded prejudices) attracted an audience not well-versed in comics. This series is already covered, or especially Dave McKean as fascinating mixed media art. The great acceptance of the title inspired the editor Karen Berger Establishing the Vertigo sub-label in 1993 where personal writers could unleash their darkest visions of horror and fantasy without DC’s censorship.
A series about relationships
Gaiman developed the series as follows: David S Goyer (The ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy), as well as his ally in the film, which debuted in 2016, and a third man fit to shape something ambitious but affordable, likely to be permanent: Alan Heinberghas been part of the ‘OC’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ writers’ rooms (co-creator of Young Avengers) as well as writing comics. So, he’s an ‘expert’ of the tebeístico world, but also someone who knows what a show needs to engage and be successful.
“One of the things I wanted to try while writing was dealing with huge assets, huge ideas and huge timeframes,” Gaiman said in Netflix’s ‘Geeked Week’ promotional event series. Said. “But only if you use people and show their experience, people’s hearts and minds, you can get people interested in it.” Seems like a lesson learned from Heinberg.
On the same occasion, Gaiman spoke of ‘Sandman’ as a set of relationships rather than ideas. Three in particular make it cerebral rather than emotional: the lord of the Dream and Nightmare kingdom (here Tom Sturridgejust seen on ‘Irma Vep’) librarian Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong, from ‘one’); undercover detective Johanna Constantine (Jenna ColemanClara from ‘Doctor Who) and a young woman, Rose Walker (rookie) kyo ra), looking for a missing brother. In the first two cases original characters gender reversed. Desire is now a non-binary character played by an actor of equal gender identity: Mason Alexander Park. Changes that won’t surprise the reader of an epic filled with queer and trans characters.
The massive cast also includes: Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Elena from ‘Killing Eve) as a Black Death; Gwendolin Christie (Brienne of Tarth in ‘Game of Thrones’) as a female Lucifer or Boyd Holbrook (Steve Murphy in ‘Narcos’) as Corintio, the walking nightmare, the nemesis of undeniable charisma.
things to discover
Adapted volumes ‘Preludes and Nights’ Y ‘doll house’ There will still be eight main story arcs and even some additional options in this season of caution, where everything possible has been done to capture hallucinatory footage of the original work. If the ‘Sandman’ universe catches up with the public (and Heinberg brings out his best art here to achieve it), tales of the gothic teenager Death, about whom Gaiman wrote two miniseries, may follow. Or adapt the ten-year prequel ‘Overture’. Or, who knows, shoot the autonomous stories of ‘El Sueño’ for an anthology series.. The possibilities are endless.